Telephone attachment.



No. 858,637. 'PATENTED JULY 2, 1907. w. H. s Tms'oN. v TELEPHONEATTACHMENT.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 13, 1905.

WILLIAM HENERY STINSON, OF DE FUNIAK SPRINGS, FLORIDA.

TELEPHONE ATTAGHIVIENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2, 1907.

Application filed March 13,1905- Serial No. 249,800-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM HENERY STINSON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at De Funiak Springs,

in the county of Walton and State of Florida, have invented a new anduseful Telephone Attachment; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same. I

My invention relates to a novel attachment for telephone instruments,and has for its object to provide means whereby a call received on thetelephone, during the temporary absence of the owner or user ofthe-same,

- may be readily and automatically indicated upon the instrument.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of thischaracter, which shall be simple and inexpensive in its construction,reliable and efficient in its action, and capable of ready attachment toall telephon instruments.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists essentiallyof a tube or receiver open at each end, and adapted to be suitablyconnected to the face or other part of the telephone instruments; saidtube or receiver having one or more balls or spheres located therein, areceiving vessel located at the open lower end of said tube to receivesaid balls or spheres when they are ejected from said tube, and meansfor automatically ejecting a ball from the tube into said receivingvessel when a call is received over the telephone.

My invention further consists in the construction and novel arrangementof parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings, andparticularly pointed out in the claims. I

In the drawings forming part of this specification, and

in which like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts,Figure 1 is a front elevation of my invention, as applied to the frontpart of a telephone instrument, and Fig. 2 a side elevation thereof.Fig. 3 is a view showing the vertical tube and other cooperatingelements disassembled.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1, the front of the telephoneinstrument is indicated by the numeral 1, and the bells by numeral 2. Avertical tube or receiver 3, is attached to the upper right hand cornerof the instrument by means of the small clips or brackets 4; said tubehaving a funnel shaped mouth 5, at its upper end,

and its lower open end 6, curved slightly outward, as

shown. This vertical tube or receiver 3, is adapted to receive one ormore balls or spheres 7, which are introduced therein through the funnelshaped mouth thereof. A small cup or receiving vessel 8, is removablyadjusted upon a hook 9, projecting from the front of the telephone boxdirectly below the open lower end 6, of said tube 3.

Numeral 10 represents a small copper wire or. rod, the one end of whichis bent into the form of a hook 11, to engage with the stem 12, of thebell clapper, while the opposite end is flattened out to form a slide13, adapted to engage with an open slot b in the side of the tube 3, andto project therein to hold the ball or sphere 7 in position in said tubewhen the parts are in their normal position, but when the bell stem isactuated by a call over the telephone, the slide 13, is therebywithdrawn from the slot a suflicient distance to permit the ball 7 todrop, and pass out of the lower end of the tube 3, into the receivingcup or vessel 8. This wire or rod 10 is secured to the front of thetelephone box, back of the right hand bell, by the small clip or bracket14, or by other suitable means, in such manner as to not touch the bell,as also to permit of the easy movement of the said wire or rod, back andforth, when the device is operated.

In the operation of my invention, one or more balls or spheres 7, areintroduced into the tube or receiver 3, through the funnel shaped mouth5, the lowermost ball resting in position upon the slide 1.3, of thewire or rod 10. When a call is received over the telephone, the stem 12of the bell clapper is actuated, to and fro, and operates to pull backthe wire or rod 10, and withdraw its slide 13, from out of engagementwith the slot in the side of the tube or receiver 3, a sufficientdistance to permit one or more of the balls 7, resting thereon, to dropdown and pass out of the lower end of the said tube into the receivingcup or vessel 8. When a call is made over the telephone during thetemporary absence of the owner or user of the same, balls are droppedinto the receiving cup or vessel, as above described, and upon thereturn of said owner or user of the telephone, the balls are readilyseen in the receiving cup, thus indicating that a call has been madeduring such absence. The person responding to such call, first replacesthe balls so received back into the tube or receiver 3, then calls upthe central office and inquires who had made the call or calls indicatedby the dropped balls, and being placed in communication with thetelephone number having made the previous call, or calls, can thenreceive the intended message, or messages, or indicate, by the samemeans on the telephone communicated with, that a call, or calls, hasbeen made.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

In a device of the character described. the combination of a telephoneinstrument having a casing and telephone hell, of an attachmentcomprising an open-ended tube hav ing a funnehshaped mouth, the lowerend of said tube being slightly curved upon the circumferential edgethereof, 1 ceptacle for receiving said bulls when ejected from the saidtube being positioned parallel to the telephone casing, tube positionedbelow the lower end thereof and secured to clips for fastening said tubeto the said casing, a plurality the telephone casing.

of balls contained in said tube, said tube having a slot in In testimonywhereof I have hereto ailixed my signature.

5 the circumference thereof, a rod having a flattened portion in thepresence 01 two witnesses.

extending" through said slot and actuated by the telephone 1 H e bellfor retaining or releasing the balls; the means for ac- WILLIAM HENRISHNbON' tuating said rod comprises the shank of the bell clapper,Witnesses:

the said rod having an eye at its outer end through which W. A. LAIRD,10 said shank extends, a bracket guide for the rod, and a re- .1. Q.KENNEDY.

